Apparatus for optically analyzing products such as fruit having bilateral imaging devices
AssigneeMateriel pour l'Arboriculture Fruitiere
InventorPhilippe Blanc
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to an apparatus for optically analyzing products such as fruit for automatic sorting of the products, comprising at least one conveying line (1, 2), a plurality of analysis stations, and a device for driving each product in rotation. The imaging devices (12 to 19) of the different analysis stations are arranged in two lateral series located on each side of the longitudinal vertical plane of each conveying line (1, 2).
Claims19
Apparatus for optically analyzing products that are substantially rotationally symmetrical—in particular substantially spheroidal—such as fruit, so that they can be sorted automatically, comprising:
- at least one conveying line (1, 2) for transporting the products in a continuous line in a longitudinal direction with respect to a fixed structure (7) and comprising a plurality of individual supports of the products aligned one behind the other in the longitudinal direction;
- a plurality of P stations (8 to 11) for optically analyzing the external surface of the products, said analysis stations (8 to 11) being disposed successively at a distance from one another in the longitudinal direction and each comprising at least one imaging device (12 to 19) fixed to the structure (7) and having an optical axis oriented towards a conveying line (1, 2) so as to be able to produce images of the products being transported in line past said imaging device by said conveying line (1, 2);
- a device (20) for driving in rotation each product carried by a conveying line (1, 2) during its transportation past the different successive analysis stations (8 to 11) in such a way that different faces of each product are seen by the different successive imaging devices (12 to 19),
- wherein
- each imaging device (12 to 19) is arranged above the conveying line (1, 2) towards which it is oriented and is offset laterally with respect to a longitudinal vertical plane containing the longitudinal direction;
- the different imaging devices (12 to 19) of the different analysis stations (8 to 11) are arranged in two lateral series of imaging devices, a first lateral series (12, 14;
- 16, 18) located on one side of the longitudinal vertical plane and comprising N1 imaging devices (12, 14;
- 16, 18) belonging to P1 different analysis stations (8, 10), and a second lateral series (13, 15;
- 17, 19) located on the other side of the longitudinal vertical plane and comprising N2 imaging devices (13, 15;
- 17, 19) belonging to P2 different analysis stations (9, 11), N1, N2, P1 and P2 being whole numbers other than zero.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.